Summer Cruise 2016

On the Way to the Water

This year's summer cruise aboard Sir Tugley Blue (STB) is upon us. We have had an extremely busy six months working on the boat getting it ready for our big trip that was curtailed in 2015 due to family circumstances.

Over the Winter and Spring, our projects have included a new mast, 600 watts of solar panels, addition of Sirius satellite weather, a weather station, a new mast, a stern thruster, a table for Admiral in the pilot house, a new Rocna anchor, and a water maker in addition to the normal polishing and waxing and maintenance. No travel to warmer climes for us this year!

Some of our new additions:

Solar Panels

 

New Mast With Satellite Weather and Weather Station

 

New Table Runner Woven by the "Admiral"

 

Pilot House Table

 

Watermaker

 

Dinghy Cover

 

Stern Thruster

 

One Of Two Ottomons - One for Wine, One for Tools

 

Our cruise this summer will begin at Whitehall and head north to meet up with Bob and Jan ("Wings") at Charlevoix from where we will cross into Lake Huron and then via the North Channel to the south end of Georgian Bay. Here we will join up with Stephen and Fran ("Tug'n", another NT 37) and head generally east for about 250 miles through the Trent Severn Waterway, a recreational canal to the east end of Lake Ontario. Randy and Audrey ("Heart Tug") will join us here for our journey down the St. Lawrence River with major stops at Montreal and Quebec and the Saguanay River.

From there, the St. Lawrence becomes significanty wider and we will travel the south shore to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Weather permitting, we will also visit the south shore of Newfoundland along the way with a short visit to France in the islands of Michelon and St. Pierre just off the Newfoundland coast. (How many people know that France is that close?) We will end the season sometime in September with a crossing from Nova Scotia to Maine where we will leave the boat for the winter. In 2017, we plan to head south to NY City, up the Hudson and the canal system to Lake Ontario and home.

This trip is part of a circular loop that is known as the Down East Circle. Many complete this in one season (at least from Lake Ontario) but we have the additional mileage to get to this point, (around 800 miles,) so we are splitting it into two seasons to do it justice. The map below shows the part of the Circle Route we plan to complete this year.

This Year's Cruise

Take-off is scheduled for May 16th, weather permitting, and the forecast is looking good as of today, May 14th. We finished our work on the boat last week and the majority of our food, etc. is on board so we are looking for a timely departure.

Click on BLOG below to go to the first page of our 2016 Blog.